Storm Eowyn calmed down for the day but hosts Sale certainly did not. Having lost their previous six games, all by narrow margins, Sale really raised their intensity in the second half to score fifteen unanswered points and turn around a game which Richmond seemed to be edging.

An away trip to Sale always looked like a tough challenge and so it proved. The result allows Rams to take over top spot for the moment but it’s their turn to make a trip to Heywood Road next Saturday whilst Richmond travel to Darlington. There are going to be plenty of twists and turns in the season yet.

Richmond fielded a starting line up with seven changes, four in the backs and three in the forwards. In the centre Ellis Rudder made his first start after good performances in the Vikings whilst hooker Alex Post made a welcome reappearance as substitute hooker.

As ever, Richmond wanted a fast start and got it. From a Sale box kick, Richmond took possession and moved the ball out to the wide left. Josh Addams made good ground before drawing the final defender and passing inside to the well positioned skipper Alex Schwarz. The conversion hit the post. Nevertheless, in just under a minute, Richmond had a five point lead.

It did not last long. Richmond knocked on the kick off ball, leading to a Sale scrum just inside the 22. Sale made a half break in the centre, but the defence just held. However, referee Ben Wood called play back to the posts from where fly half James Robbins knocked over a simple penalty.

With just five minutes notched on the clock, Richmond conceded another score. Sam Pim, probably Richmond’s best player on the day, fielded another box kick and passed to Alex O’Meara. The full back kicked the ball deep but a line of players in front of him made no effort to retreat, thereby conceding a penalty. Quick as a flash Sale tapped and ran and winger Tom Walsh was immediately clear, running forty metres to score by the posts, Robbins converting for a 10-5 lead.

It was nip and tuck now. First, full back Tom Brady fielded well and set up a dangerous attack before there was a knock on. And then Chidera Obonna showed his speed, outpacing the defence in pursuit of a kick towards the corner. He got one boot to the ball but another knock on denied the scoring chance.

However, in the next play, in the thirteenth minute, Richmond created another chance through the power of their scrum. Sale had the put in but were driven off the ball, conceding a penalty, which was kicked to the corner.

The forwards drove towards the posts before Schwarz moved the ball to Obonna then to Rudder who appeared to get the touchdown as the posts were given a fearful rattle. Callum Grieve added the conversion and Richmond were back in the lead.

Richmond now looked much more confident and Pim was almost away before a recall for a marginal forward pass. Sale kicked straight out, and Richmond maintained the pressure, drawing another penalty in front of the posts. Grieve made no mistake and Richmond now led 10-15 after 23 minutes.

Once again, Sale soon responded. Lewis Dennett was isolated and got clobbered, Sale hooker Alfie Longstaff claiming the jackal. Longstaff, an England Under 20 player from Sale Sharks was playing his first game for Sale FC. Back on the attack, Sale spread the ball and George Nugent was penalised and yellow carded for an illegal block on winger Tom Walsh. For four long minutes, Richmond held out at the cost of three penalties and a team warning, as Sale barraged the line. Finally, after 29 minutes, Longstaff, Sale’s player of the match, stayed low and found an angle to get the ball down for a hard earned try. Robbins conversion took the score to 17-15.

Richmond had the best of the last ten minutes of the half, but it was a bit frantic with uncharacteristic mistakes. A short range line out provided one good chance, but the ball was lost at the critical moment. Another time, a long pass went over the head of the well placed O‘Meara, but this time, play was recalled to the posts, from where Grieve kicked another penalty for a 17-18 half time lead.

There was a lot of kicking in the opening minutes of the second half and Sale did it better. For Richmond a kick off the side of the foot was skewed into touch on the full whilst Sale’s Walsh by contrast found clear space and was nearly away until he was cover tackled to touch.

It was a charged down kick which directly led to the next decisive score. Longstaff grabbed the loose ball and set off on a run of around thirty metres to the line. Two Richmond defenders tried to work out how to stop him, but neither could.

In the 48th minute, Richmond’s deficit got worse. Sale scrum half Joe Green kicked ahead, and Richmond were penalised, probably for blocking. A good line kick set up the home pack five metres out and they made it look simple as Longstaff claimed his hat trick.

For a while, Richmond had chances, mostly deep in the right hand corner but knock ons and some ill-judged kicks cost them dear. By this time, an experienced Sale team were looking confident, and they defended well, coming up quickly to deny Richmond space.

Even in the final minutes, Richmond only needed one try for a bonus point, but their belief was for the moment gone, and it was Sale who looked likelier to score a final try.

Sale had one of those days and it would be helpful if they had another one next week. Meanwhile a good Richmond team will have much better days to come.

Team: O’Meara, Obonna, Rudder, Grieve, Addams, Dennett, Schwarz, Bevacqua, Goffey, Litchfield, Gray, Nugent, Monson, Willis, Pim,

Subs: Post, Freeman, Wakeling, Butler, Werner

Tries: Schwarz, Rudder
Conversions: Grieve
Penalties: Grieve (2)